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Re: Your thoughts about Steve's essay

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

I think that destination for the proceeds should have been up-front.

The entity to whom all proceeds would go, minus Amazon's fees, hadn't been determined at the time that the essay was first publicized. Once it was determined, any entity representing Mr. King was indeed upfront about where the profits would go.

Since your investigation into where the proceeds would go was a cursory one at best, you've no right to complain. You could have chosen to wait until the name of the proceeds recipient was made public. Instead, you chose to go ahead and buy the essay before you were sure of any profit recipient.

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

And I’ve concluded that Stephen King...is a bigot. King...indicates a...thinly-veiled hatred of Christianity.

Hardly. You, along with every member of this message board, have no idea whether Mr. King hates Christianity or not. I doubt highly that a King hatred of anything religious would stop the overwhelming majority of his Constant Readers from continuing to read his works. Even if he does loathe and despise Christianity, what does it matter?
You're only now coming to this conclusion about Mr. King? I find it interesting that an essay regarding the use of guns in the U.S. is evidence enough for you and not any of his previous writings, written or recorded interviews, or recorded lectures and/or appearances.

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

Today, it is fashionable to marginalize those who hold religion a part of their daily lives.

So you're implying Mr. King jumped on the Hip & Trendy Bandwagon with his essay? Since when has Mr. King *ever* performed such an amazing feat? Not to marginalize the man himself, but he ain't exactly Justin Bieber, a Gangnam choreographer, a hybrid engineer working for GM, organic food matter, a Starbucks grande, the latest incarnation of Explorer, or a series regular on The Big Bang Theory. All he did was express an opinion, not a theorem on how cool he is or wants to be.

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

"clinging to their guns and religion” as that ****head in the White House phrased it before he was elected

Boo hoo. Your guy didn't win, did he? P.S. That "****head in the White House" was re-elected, so get used to the fact that there are many in the U.S. who do not share your perception of him.

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

And yet it is unfortunate that so many have minimized King’s bigotry.

That's because there is none to minimize.

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

That King gets a free-pass on his lack of “diversity” is a rather sad and unfortunate state of affairs.

Mother Abigail?
Duddits?
Ralph Roberts?
Speedy Parker?

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

It is incredible that some take comfort from some of the same ideas prevalent in Nazi Germany

I beg your pardon. I take great offense at that statement.

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

I’ve seen Lanza’s mother characterized as a “gun nut” here on the board.

That's because she *was* a "gun nut". The woman owned five registered weapons including a Glock and a Bushmaster rifle.

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

King writes, “semi-automatics have only two purposes. One is so owners can take them to the shooting range once in awhile, yell yeehaw, and get all horny at the rapid fire and the burning vapor spurting from the end of the barrel. Their other use--their only other use--is to kill people.” This is what passes for acceptable discourse in our world today, marginalizing 80 million gun owners with words like this.

I didn't realize that guns were more than merely weapons used to kill people or animals. Do you think a gun might help me change the oil in my car? Mow the lawn? Drive my child to school?

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

In Nazi Justiz: Law of the Holocaust, Richard Lawrence Miller outlined the 5-step process of genocide.

One person's interpretation of what appears to be an explanation of how society is duped into abetting nefarious plots for genocide. And since you claim that Mr. King has taken the first step of identifying a target group, can you also explain why he'd self-identify, given that he is a gun owner himself?

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

Judging by recent editorials, we can expect to see more targeting and ostracizing. Are you comfortable with that?

I'm comfortable with having the Second Amendment repealed altogether and allowing arms only for those in law enforcement and the military.

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

...those who don’t “feel a qualm of regret at throwing a blanket over the truth is an ******* with no conscience.” His [Stephen King's] words. And they apply.

Finally, culturally sensitive classroom instruction! Inner City schools are finally starting to teach practical math that these kids can use in real-world situations!

NAME____________________

GANG/CREW NAME______________

CRIB_________________

1. Lajames has an AK-47 with a 200-round clip. He usually misses 6 of every 10 shots and he uses 13 rounds per drive-by shooting. How many mofos can Lajames ice on a drive-by before he gotta reload?

2. Leroy has 2 ounces of cocaine. If he sells an 8 ball to Antonio for $320 and 2 grams to Juan for $85 per gram, what be the street value of the rest of his ****?

3. Dwayne pimps 3 ho's. If the price is $85 per trick, how many tricks per day must each ho turn to support Dwayne's $800 per day Crack habit?

4. Raul wants to cut the pound of cocaine he bought for $40,000 to make 20% profit. How many ounce bags will he need to make to gets the 20% upside?

5. Ray-Ray gets $2000 for a stolen BMW, $1500 for stealing a Corvette, and $1000 for a 4 x 4. If he steals 1 BMW, 2 Corvettes and 3 4x4's, how many more Corvettes must he steal to make the $10k for his brother's bail?

6. Pedro got 6 years for murder. He also got $10,000 for the hit. If his common-law wife spends $100 of his hit money per month, how much money will be left when he gets out?

7. If an average can of spray paint covers 22 square feet and the average letter is 3 square feet, how many letters can be sprayed with three 8 oz. cans of spray paint with 20% paint left over?

8. Tyrone knocked up 4 girls in the gang. There be 20 girls in his gang. What be the percentage of bitches Tyrone knocked up?

9. Lafwanda is a lookout for the gang. Lafwanda also has a Boa Constrictor that eats 5 rats per week and at a cost of $5 per rat. If Lafwanda makes $700 a week as a lookout, how many weeks can she feed her snake with one week's income?

10. Marvin steals Juan's skateboard. As Marvin skates away at 15mph, Juan loads his 357 Magnum piece. If it takes Juan 20 seconds to load his piece, how far away will Marvin be when he gets whacked?

(I put the above in a spoiler because it is offensive.)

I had no choice but to call you out. You posted that a friend had e-mailed the *joke* and you wanted to share it. I responded, I do not have any friends who would even think to send that *joke* to me because it is racist and bigoted.

I also posted that the way you conduct yourself amongst your friends must convey to them that you would appreciate the disgusting joke.

You continue to show your azz and get all bent out of shape when members call you out.

A couple/number? of people have tried to warn you about your ugly posts yet, you continue. Don't be crying, whining or crying bullying. You reap what you sow.

Re: Your thoughts about Steve's essay

Originally Posted by Walter Oobleck

Thank you. If that is the case, then I wish his words had been clear. As it stands, it it not clear. I'd like to believe my favorite writer--other than Harry Crews & Padgett Powell...Donald Justice...I'd like to believe that he is not that way. But I'm not going to apologize for reading it that way.

I hope you all have a wonderful, long, & prosperous life. I will trouble you no more.

You may not want to trouble us any more, but you don't seem to be able to help it.

I liked you in the past and I tried to make people give you the benefit of the doubt (I remember something about a shotgun shell).

If you don't like the people or the opinions on this board, why do you continue to come back?

Re: Your thoughts about Steve's essay

Originally Posted by Lily Sawyer

The entity to whom all proceeds would go, minus Amazon's fees, hadn't been determined at the time that the essay was first publicized. Once it was determined, any entity representing Mr. King was indeed upfront about where the profits would go.

Are you sure about that? Maybe I missed that, but my impression was King chose to not publicize that proceeds were being donated. (Nothing wrong with that IMO. People have the right to donate money earned from their own work where ever they chose and that's what this is...earned from his own work.). But, people were very critical that he was making money off the deaths of children.

I'm pretty sure (though I can't prove it of course) that those who complained of him making money are the same people that complained of him making money.

Re: Your thoughts about Steve's essay

Originally Posted by AnnaMarie

Are you sure about that? Maybe I missed that, but my impression was King chose to not publicize that proceeds were being donated.

Yes, I'm sure. Publicized is not the same as published.
When Guns was first publicized here on the SK website, the intended release date on Amazon was made public as well as a note that all profits would be donated to charity. It didn't identify *which* charity because not all agreements had been signed and/or arranged.
Once the essay was published (i.e. released on Amazon), the website noted that "all profits will benefit the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence".

Mr. King's website gang (Jordan and his crew), his agent (Arthur Greene), and the folks over at Amazon were all completely transparent about the intent to donate Guns profits to charity and identified the Brady Campaign as the recipient as soon as it was legally okay to do so.

As for Mr. King originally not intending to publicize that his profits would be donated, you'll have to ask Ms. Mod if that was the case. None of the marketing, interviews, promos, or reviews of Guns mentioned that he didn't want to publicize his donation to the Brady Campaign.

Re: Your thoughts about Steve's essay

I've received Steve's permission to post this and we'll be adding it to our announcements:

...any money from the essay will go to one of the charities to benefit victims of gun violence…

Then a subsequent post was made after questions came out regarding the original intent and the actual beneficiary of the donations.

At the time of the first posting with that language, he was still considering which of a number of charities to give the money to. Originally it was the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy but there had also been other gun-related massacres this past year. There were three major organizations that are focusing on legislation to change current gun laws, but it was his feeling that supporting the efforts of the Brady Campaign was the best way of preventing future victims of gun violence.

Some would call that a clarification, others might consider it a bait-and-switch or a complete reversal from the orignial intent (as there are valid arguments made that the work of the Brady Campaign would contribute to more future victims of gun violence rather than reduce it) and a way for King to funnel funds into what he himself considers a worthy charity. Still others might see it completely differently. But to me at least, the execution is vastly different from what I thought would be the original destination of the donations.

And I was a bit taken aback by many of the nasty personal comments made against Walter Oobleck for what I considered a post done in a somewhat “Sephenesque” style. I’ve read some of King’s rather disparaging comments regarding the governors of Wisconsin, Florida and Maine; and of the Tea Party, for politics not considered in tune with his own. I though Walter made some rather valid points (and some points I didn’t think were valid), but I looked at the post as done in a style that reminded me of SK’s political approach.

Do we really want a discussion on the topic of gun violence? After the attitudes displayed, I’m not so sure anymore.